REMEMBER PRISONERS
Roland H Brown
Hebrews 13: 3
2 Timothy 4: 6
Matthew 25: 34-40
Our brother has spoken of God’s ways and the questions that might arise in our minds as we think of our sister, as we wonder ‘Why?’. Of course we have to recognise that God does not have to account to us for His ways with us or with any. Why should one of the Lord’s own, one who was borne up in prayer before the throne of grace as our dear sister was, be left so infirm? In our gatherings and in the home she was the subject of prayer. Yet the Lord did not heal her, nor did He take her to be with Himself; she was left in prison conditions.
These scriptures speak of prison conditions; quite clearly in each case referring to persons who were literally in jail on account of their faith. I believe it capable of extension to think of the prison conditions in which our sister was. I remember speaking to a fellow believer, not one with whom I was in fellowship, in relation to my own mother who was left for a long time with advanced dementia and difficulty communicating, as to ‘Why?’. The one to whom I spoke said there were many reasons. One was the testimony that such a person, who might well be written off in the world in which we are, was visited. There was evidence that they were loved and they were cared for; and I thought how important that was. The apostle obviously thought it was important too because he says, “Remember prisoners, as bound with them”. Those who are unable to gather with us on account of weakness are not to be forgotten. This verse brings out the reality of the body, the body of Christ that “if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it”, 1 Cor 12: 26. There is a testimony in that. There is a testimony in persons going to see such as our sister, and there are those in this room who committed themselves to that; and as the final scripture I have read shows, they will receive the Lord’s own commendation and reward for a service which was largely unseen and, you might say naturally speaking, unrewarding. There was a testimony for others to take account of, that one who might have been regarded as of little account was remembered by those that in a very real sense were bound with her: bound with her in the bonds of fellowship, bound with her in the bonds of Christ; and in visiting her, as the Lord Himself says in this verse which refers to another time. I think the bearing of it can be brought forward: “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren”. “My brethren”: that is what our sister belonged to; she was one of the brethren of Christ. None of us could be greater than that: whether we have part in any public service or not, none of us will be greater than being one of the brethren of Christ, and our sister was numbered among them and the Lord Himself takes account of that. “I was ill, and ye visited me”. Ye visited Me. That is the force of it; it was done to Him. He recognised it just as He says to Paul, “why persecutest thoume?”, Acts 22: 7. If we speak of ourselves as being bound with prisoners, how indissolubly the Lord Himself is bound with His own in such conditions. We have no doubt of that. We may have found it difficult to communicate with our sister, and she at times finding it impossible to communicate with us, but the Lord was able to communicate and He is able, and in visiting such we are visiting Him. “I was ill, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me”; conditions where she could not come to us or to our gatherings. I say these words that these features might be stimulated amongst us, not in any way suggesting that there is any lack in it, because I know there are those in this room that were devoted to it and are devoted to it. I believe the testimony is bound up in it.
Another reason such are left is because of the development of these body feelings with us. We live in a busy world. The apostle could say, “all seek their own things”, Phil 2: 21. What a thing it is in the age in which we are; how easy to be marked by it. The Lord would appeal to us that these feelings for His own might be developed with us. That is why I referred to the beloved apostle. He too was in prison literally. He says, “the time of my release is come”, my release. He was not going to get parole; he was not going to get remission for good behaviour; what faced him was martyrdom for Christ. That is the way he spoke of it, “the time of my release is come”. There is that in death: the time of our sister’s release has come. She has known prison conditions, confined in the home, and even her own body. The body that we bury had become a prison to her, but the time of her release has come. The apostle speaks with great affection. He says, “I am already being poured out”. He could view it with equanimity that he was departing to be with Christ, which was very much better. How wonderful to take account of death like that. There are deaths that cause great sorrow in the heart, lives which people say are cut short, but there is in this verse a sense of triumph; “the time of my release is come”. It is a great thing to take account of death, not as something to be feared but as deliverance, as it was for our sister and for the apostle, one who had devoted himself to the Lord’s interests and suffered on account of them. There came a time when he was going to be released from all that. He was going to be released to be with Christ, to depart to be “with Christ” which he says, “is very much better”, Phil 1: 23. He speaks of being poured out. The earthen vessel which we bury today of course is not forgotten; it will be raised. “It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power”, 1 Cor 15: 43. Transformed into a body of glory like unto His own.
What salvation has been secured for us through the death of Christ; it was all in divine purpose for our sister, and for each believer. So while we are left here in this hard, cruel and cold world may we be developed in these body feelings for those who are left amongst us in these very limited conditions.
For the Lord’s Name’s sake.
SUNBURY
27th February 2020